A-to-Z Identity Index

A sexual orientation characterized by fluidity - the person's orientation changes frequently or constantly over time, shifting between different identities.

Aceflux and aroflux describe attraction that fluctuates along the asexual and aromantic spectrums over time, rather than staying fixed.

An umbrella term for men (and masculine-aligned people) attracted to other men, regardless of whether they also experience attraction to other genders.

Having no gender identity, or a gender identity of "none." Also called genderless, gender-free, non-gendered, or ungendered.

Androgyne is a gender identity that combines masculine and feminine at once, rather than sitting at either pole. Androgyny is a gender expression that blends masculine and feminine presentation.

Androsexual describes attraction to masculinity or men, and gynesexual attraction to femininity or women. Both are worded to describe who someone is drawn to without assuming the gender of the person feeling it.

A gender identity that is separate from and defined entirely independently of masculine, feminine, or any combination between them.

A combined identity descriptor for people who are both aromantic and asexual - experiencing little to no romantic attraction and little to no sexual attraction.

Experiences little to no romantic attraction toward others.

Does not experience sexual attraction toward others.

Autosexual and autoromantic describe sexual or romantic attraction directed primarily toward oneself.

Bear culture is a community within gay, bisexual and queer men's spaces that celebrates larger, hairier, rugged-masculine bodies and a warm, welcoming social ethos.

Identifies as having two distinct gender identities - simultaneously present or alternating.

Emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to more than one gender - not necessarily equally, simultaneously, in the same way, or to the same degree.

Burrnesha are people in the northern Albanian highlands, and in Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, who were assigned female at birth, swore a lifelong oath of celibacy before their community, and thereafter lived and were treated socially as men.

Butch describes masculinity as an identity or expression within lesbian and queer women's communities. Femme describes femininity in the same context.

Sexual (ceterosexual) or romantic (ceteromantic) attraction to non-binary, genderqueer, and gender-nonconforming people.

Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. It is the counterpart to transgender, and it exists so that there is a neutral word for the majority position.

A person who wears clothing typically associated with a different gender, for any reason - comfort, expression, performance, or enjoyment.

Demiflux describes a gender with two components, where one part stays constant and the other varies in intensity.

Demigender means identifying partly, but not fully, with a gender, alongside another gender or none. A demiboy is partly a boy or man. A demigirl is partly a girl or woman.

Demiromantic means only feeling romantic attraction to someone after a close emotional bond has formed. Before that bond exists, the crush simply is not there.

Demisexual means someone only feels sexual attraction after a close emotional bond has formed. Before that bond exists, the attraction simply is not there.

Disability Pride affirms disability as a natural part of human diversity, and its flag represents the disability community while being safe for people with visually-triggered conditions.

The performance art of dressing in exaggerated gender presentation - typically the opposite of one's everyday gender - for entertainment, artistic expression, or cultural celebration.

A term for non-binary people attracted to other non-binary people - the non-binary equivalent of "sapphic" and "achillean." Sometimes also used for anyone attracted primarily to non-binary people.

Sexual attraction directed primarily or exclusively toward fictional characters, typically with a strong emotional attachment.

A person who experiences emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction primarily or exclusively to people of the same or a similar gender.

A broad descriptor for people whose gender expression does not conform to the social norms and expectations associated with their assigned sex at birth or identified gender.

Genderfae describes gender fluidity that moves among feminine, neutral and agender experiences but never includes masculine ones. Genderfaun is the counterpart: fluidity that never includes feminine ones.

A gender identity that shifts over time or depending on context - between male, female, non-binary, and others - at varying rates and frequencies.

A gender identity in which the intensity of one's gender varies over time - for example, sometimes feeling fully female, sometimes agender, sometimes between.

When someone experiences a gender, but that gender is unexplainable and can only be identified as "gender" and nothing else.

A gender identity (and umbrella term) for people who reject or blur traditional gender categories.

A neurogender identity in which a person's gender cannot be separated from, or described independently of, their neurodivergence.

Graysexual means experiencing sexual attraction rarely, weakly, or in circumstances that are hard to generalise about. It describes the space between asexual and allosexual.

Greygender describes having a gender identity that is weak, vague or only partly present. Gendervoid describes an actively felt sense of void or emptiness where gender would otherwise be.

Heterosexual, usually shortened to straight, describes emotional, romantic or sexual attraction primarily to people of a different gender. Heteroflexible describes being mostly straight with occasional same-gender attraction. Homoflexible describes the mirror.

Hijra is a gender community recognised across South Asia, mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, made up largely of people assigned male at birth who live in feminine gender roles inside a distinct social and ritual system.

An umbrella term for people born with variations in sex characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, gonads, or anatomy) that do not fit typical binary definitions.

Leather culture is a community built around leather, kink and BDSM, with deep roots in post-war queer and gay men's spaces, and values of trust, consent and honest negotiation.

A woman (or non-binary person who relates to womanhood in some way) who experiences emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction primarily or exclusively to other women and/or non-binary people.

Partial-gender identities in which a person is mostly agender but feels a small, secondary attachment to masculinity (libramasculine) or femininity (librafeminine).

Māhū names a person who holds both masculine and feminine within them, in Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) and Tahitian tradition. The word is usually translated as "in the middle".

A non-binary gender that is independent of and not defined by reference to the gender binary - not a mix of male and female, not a midpoint, not an absence, but its own substantive and distinct gender.

An umbrella term for anyone who experiences more than one gender identity - simultaneously, alternately, or fluidly.

An umbrella for orientations that involve attraction to more than one gender, including bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, polysexual and spectrasexual.

A gender identity described as neutral, null, or absent - distinct from agender in that neutrois often implies a specific quality of neutral gender rather than simply no gender.

A gender identity (and umbrella term) for genders that exist outside the male/female binary.

An orientation in which a person's sexual orientation changes together with their gender identity.

Attraction to people of all genders, similar to pansexual, but with the distinction that gender does play a role in the experience of attraction.

A gender identity in which a person identifies with all genders, or with so many genders that their experience is effectively without limit or boundary.

Sexual, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender.

The practice of engaging in multiple romantic and/or sexual relationships simultaneously, with the knowledge and full consent of all parties involved.

Sexual/romantic attraction to multiple - but not necessarily all - genders.

Pup play is a form of role play and community within kink culture in which a person takes on a relaxed, affectionate, dog-like headspace.

An umbrella term for sexual and/or gender identities that are not exclusively heterosexual or cisgender.

Queer People of Color (QPOC) centres the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people who are also Black, Indigenous or people of colour, at the intersection of racism and anti-LGBTQIA+ bias.

Questioning means actively exploring your sexual orientation, your gender identity, or both, without having arrived at an answer. It is a legitimate position to occupy, not a waiting room.

Reciprosexual describes someone who only feels sexual attraction to a person after learning that person is attracted to them first. Recipromantic is the same pattern for romantic attraction.

Sexual and/or romantic attraction based primarily on intelligence rather than on gender or physical characteristics.

An umbrella term for women (and feminine-aligned people) attracted to other women, regardless of whether they also experience attraction to other genders.

Sexual and/or romantic attraction to multiple or varied genders - framed as attraction across a spectrum of genders and sexes, including non-binary and intersex people.

A cisgender, heterosexual person who supports LGBTQIA+ rights and affirms LGBTQIA+ identities.

Third gender is an anthropological umbrella term for socially recognised gender categories that exist alongside man and woman. It is an outsider's word: a label applied from the study of these societies rather than a name any of them uses.

An umbrella adjective for a person whose gender identity does not align with the sex assigned to them at birth.

Transmasculine describes people who were assigned female at birth and whose gender is masculine or masculine-leaning. Transfeminine describes people who were assigned male at birth and whose gender is feminine or feminine-leaning.

Travesti is a Latin American gender identity, held mainly by people assigned male at birth who live and present femininely and who, in many cases, deliberately do not call themselves women or trans women.

Identifies as having three distinct gender identities - which may be simultaneously present, alternating, or fluid between them.

Two-Spirit is an English-language umbrella term, created by Indigenous people in 1990, for Indigenous North Americans whose gender or sexuality sits outside colonial categories, often in connection with a traditional ceremonial or social role.

An umbrella term for gender identities that cannot be adequately described using existing human gender language and are instead described through other frameworks - nature, abstract concepts, sensory experiences, or non-human frameworks.